Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1887-03-24

be found sober In one hour BY
watch he would be tried on the ~
by drum-head court-martial. r
then set an example by emptyina
| canteen at q single pull while the boS
| cheered with tremendous vigor.
"Under the celebrating infIueu
of the liquor the din becaf
simply infernal-even that wo
seems weak and m~eanineIc
to describe such a scene. Tbs
was no violence, no fighting, .sver
body had had enough of that.
was simply o happy drink
round. Thousands of voices ioin
in singing the old army sonas4Bats
Cry of Freedom Red. White al
Blue Tramp, Tramp, John Browf2
Body and the rude parodies of DID
and Bonnie Blue Flag II harmoi
was lacking the deficiency was MAJ
up a hundredfold in the vast volus8
OF sound. Now and then somebod
would start up the doxology-sPrai1
God From Whom All Blessings Floi
to the tune OF old Hundred an
those leather-lunged veterans won
sing it as it was never sung befor
There wasn't a thought of irreyeren<
about it, either. They sung it .wi1
the spirit and with the understanding
also,s as truly as everdid the worship
pers at a Methodist camp-meeting.
MEN did all sorts OF ~grotesque an
ridiculous things. They climbed ire
and yelled from among the brancbe.
they made heroic speeches from lol
and stumps; they turned their ciothtI
inside out; they rode m another q
poles-they did everything that gre4
fertility of resource in this diractiol
could suggest. At the headquarteq
OF our brigade a horse bucket full &
egg-nog was made, and the general an
his staff INDUCED in copious hbation(
After several rounds they saliie|
tort and seized the instruments OF th|
band, and formed for q pasad
through the camp. The general head
ed the procession with the bass drnnI
which he pounded so furiously that b
broke in one OF the heads. tn
staff officers, with horns, blew til
most wildly discordant blasts. a
they marched hithes and thither, red
mental and company officers, am
hundreds of soldiers feel in behind til
general and his staff, until the CO..
umn of bowling lunatics was a quartz
of a mile long. d
"Now there are, no doubt, in thii
present year of our Lord, many mosl
excellent people who will say that tn
soldiers of the Fourth corps did (
very reprehensible thing in gettin7
drunk that night. While, perhap9
agreeing with them on general prime
plies, l will say that no human beinf
unless he has been there can rise ID
tine full comprehension of such an %
casion. 1t was before the days of tn
temperance crusade, and the provoca.
ton was extraordinary. Ifthere was
since the world was created, an excusj
that would hold water for a tempera|
ry lapse from sobriety, it was tho
and there. Four years OF toiling and
suffering such rs Others know not; d
weary marches and vigils by day and
by night, through fierce heat and beat
ing storm; of facing the pitiless bullst6
and screaming shell, against avid
scenes of death and human anguish;
long months and years that had thin
ned regiments OF a thousand men down
to a hundred-all were past, the end
had come, and before the eyes d
those SCARED and war-worn veterand
arose, in a moment. blessed pictures d
peace and home! Doyou wonder thai
they INDUCED In those wild and ex.
travagant demonstrations OF joy1
Added to these were the glad feeling o|
victory at last, after all the blood
and Indebtedness and the patriotic
rejoicing over a nation saved by then
valor and sacrifices. Let me ask i
you wouldn't have been very likely I'd
make fool of yourself for the time
being if you had been there? Let I'D
hope the recording angel yelled he's
face thatnight."